2025 Best General Business/Commerce Schools in the Great Lakes Region
69Colleges in the Great Lakes Region
9,703General Business Degrees Awarded
$51,660Avg Early-Career Salary
If you pursue a degree in general business/commerce, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #16 most popular program in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 69 schools in the Great Lakes Region to determine which ones were the best for general business/commerce students pursuing a degree. Combined, these schools handed out 9,703 degrees in general business/commerce to qualified students.
The general business program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for General Business/Commerce rankings. We derive our Best Overall General Business/Commerce School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
In order to find the schools that are the best fit for you, you may want to filter to one of the degree levels below.
General Business/Commerce Rankings by Degree Level
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best General Business/Commerce Schools in the Great Lakes Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.
If you'd like to restrict your choices to just one part of the country, you can filter this list by location.
In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat.
Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.
Best Schools for General Business/Commerce in the Great Lakes Region
The schools below may not offer all types of general business degrees so you may want to filter by degree level first. However, they are great for the degree levels they do offer. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
13 Top Great Lakes Region Schools in General Business
Any student who is interested in general business/commerce has to take a look at Northwestern University. Located in the small city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #5 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Northwestern is a great university overall.
There were roughly 112 general business/commerce students who graduated with this degree at Northwestern in the most recent data year. Those general business/commerce students who get their degree from Northwestern University make $137,230 more than the average general business grad.
Indiana University - Bloomington is a wonderful choice for students interested in a degree in general business/commerce. Located in the small city of Bloomington, IU Bloomington is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #30 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means IU Bloomington is a great university overall.
There were about 3205 general business/commerce students who graduated with this degree at IU Bloomington in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the general business/commerce degree program at Indiana University - Bloomington get $40,745 above the standard college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.
University of Wisconsin - Madison is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a degree in general business/commerce. UW - Madison is a very large public university located in the large city of Madison. A Best Colleges rank of #40 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UW - Madison is a great university overall.
There were about 224 general business/commerce students who graduated with this degree at UW - Madison in the most recent year we have data available. Those general business/commerce students who get their degree from University of Wisconsin - Madison receive $75,604 more than the typical general business graduate.
It is hard to beat University of Notre Dame if you wish to pursue a degree in general business/commerce. Notre Dame is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Notre Dame. A Best Colleges rank of #29 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Notre Dame is a great university overall.
There were about 121 general business/commerce students who graduated with this degree at Notre Dame in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the general business/commerce major at University of Notre Dame earn $17,038 above the standard college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
Michigan State is a fairly large public university located in the small city of East Lansing. A Best Colleges rank of #54 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Michigan State is a great university overall.
There were about 108 general business/commerce students who graduated with this degree at Michigan State in the most recent year we have data available. General Business/Commerce degree recipients from Michigan State University earn a boost of around $82,332 above the typical income of general business/commerce majors.
IWU is a large private not-for-profit university located in the rural area of Marion. A Best Colleges rank of #224 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means IWU is a great university overall.
There were roughly 158 general business/commerce students who graduated with this degree at IWU in the most recent year we have data available. Graduates who receive their degree from the general business program make an average of $49,463 in their early career salary.
IUPUI is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Indianapolis. A Best Colleges rank of #253 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means IUPUI is a great university overall.
There were roughly 800 general business/commerce students who graduated with this degree at IUPUI in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the general business/commerce major at Indiana University - Purdue University - Indianapolis earn $9,477 above the standard graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Located in the city of Muncie, Ball State is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #181 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Ball State is a great university overall.
There were about 287 general business/commerce students who graduated with this degree at Ball State in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the general business/commerce degree program at Ball State University make $10,248 more than the standard graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Illinois Wesleyan is a small private not-for-profit university located in the small city of Bloomington. This university ranks 18th out of 85 colleges for overall quality in the state of Illinois.
There were approximately 37 general business/commerce students who graduated with this degree at Illinois Wesleyan in the most recent year we have data available.
Davenport University is a small private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Grand Rapids. This university ranks 14th out of 56 colleges for overall quality in the state of Michigan.
There were about 93 general business/commerce students who graduated with this degree at Davenport University in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduating, general business degree recipients generally make around $51,717 at the beginning of their careers.
Located in the large suburb of Rochester Hills, Oakland is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #443 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Oakland is a great university overall.
There were approximately 60 general business/commerce students who graduated with this degree at Oakland in the most recent data year. Those general business/commerce students who get their degree from Oakland University receive $4,458 more than the average general business graduate.
Located in the town of Whitewater, UW - Whitewater is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #400 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UW - Whitewater is a great university overall.
There were approximately 382 general business/commerce students who graduated with this degree at UW - Whitewater in the most recent year we have data available. Those general business/commerce students who get their degree from University of Wisconsin - Whitewater make $26,637 more than the average general business grad.
Macomb Community College is a large public college located in the city of Warren. This college ranks 12th out of 56 colleges for overall quality in the state of Michigan.
There were approximately 194 general business/commerce students who graduated with this degree at Macomb Community College in the most recent year we have data available. Students who receive their degree from the general business program make about $37,532 for their early career.
Here are some additional great schools for General Business/Commerce students in the Great Lakes Region that almost earned our Best General Business/Commerce Schools in the Great Lakes Region award.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
The general business program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for General Business/Commerce rankings. We derive our Best Overall General Business/Commerce School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
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